As it's been requested TWICE now, here it is, the LAST SHOW YOU WATCHED THREAD!

WHOOO!

I'll start with my recent comments about Downton Abbey:

Been watching the first season of Downton Abby on Netflix, obviously because Rose Leslie is in it. It's not bad, it's quite a different role for Rose from the one she went on to as Ygritte. Suffice it to say Gwen Dawson and Ygritte are very different, it shows Rose's versatility to have done both roles so well for how utterly opposite the characters are.

The rest of the cast and the show itself are decent, I'm enjoying what I'm watching and I find it has a level of intrigue to the plot. Plods along at a slower pace than I'm presently accustomed to, but it's interesting to say the least. It remains to be seen if I'll watch after season 1, given that Rose was no longer a part of the cast after that, it's not entirely unlikely though.

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Well, that's season one of Downton Abbey, and Rose Leslie has left the show after this point. It's an intriguing show alright, and the story lines have a delightful level of intrigue and intricacy, I just can't get past this prevailing theme of "Isn't aristocracy so awesome?" that's deterring me from caring more about characters that I should be invested in. I think without Rose, I'm not compelled to watch further. Who knows, I might see it through yet though.

As of April 1st, 2016,the first entry in my Gold & Steel fantasy series, As Fierce as Steel, is on sale. Visit www.thegoldandsteelsaga.com for more!

I'm currently 3/4 my way through season one of Boardwalk Empire, which is currently heading into it's 5th season, I guess.

I enjoy the show and the setting. Pretty good pacing and all the episodes thus far have been good. Pretty decent characters, though I'm not a huge fan Steve Buscemi, he's not too bad and has a good supporting cast.

I love late night Friday's on Much Music, South Park marathon after midnight eastern time (1:30am my time) and this Friday is no different. They're starting things off with a bang with the Imaginlationland 3-parter. Love it.

As of April 1st, 2016,the first entry in my Gold & Steel fantasy series, As Fierce as Steel, is on sale. Visit www.thegoldandsteelsaga.com for more!

I've seen Suits listed on Netflix, might have to give it a-go some day. Won't be for some time, there's a lot of other shows begging my attention before it.

Speaking of shows about men in suits, that show I mentioned about powerful men in early 20th century suits and the women behind them has a fantastic theme song that the ludicrously talented violinist Taylor Davis covered on her YouTube channel. I'm a huge fan of her work, she does tremendous covers of video game, movie and TV show themes and songs, I recommend browsing her channel, you'll find something you're sure to like.

As of April 1st, 2016,the first entry in my Gold & Steel fantasy series, As Fierce as Steel, is on sale. Visit www.thegoldandsteelsaga.com for more!

Finally made it through season two of Boardwalk Empire. Definitely going to be a hard one to top. Other than Breaking Bad and True Detective, I'd say this is probably the best season of any show I've ever watched. It's so rich with different stories and so forth. From the standard things you'd expect from a crime drama, bloodshed, murder, political corruption, betrayal and all that stuff, to things like lesbianism, polio, religion, incest, the effects of war, just to name a few.

Steve Buscemi has gown on me, as well the supporting cast is excellent.

Michael Shannon plays a horribly conflicted prohibition agent with strong religious belief. Its quite entertaining to watch him completely deteriorate and pretty much fall apart at the hinges throughout the show and his various interactions with people.

Shea Whigham, Michael Pitt and Jack Huston are also great on the show. Just to name a few.

The ending of episode 8 was unreal, the finale was even better. I have a strong appreciation for the show mostly down to the believably and seamless quality of so many scenes with characters played by the same actress, plus the humour is marvelous too. Myself and I image so many others have such a soft spot for episode 6. I absolutely love it personally but I wouldn't be as stupid as to try to make absolutist or ignorant statements about it.

I read up on the mechanics and filming of how they do the scenes with Maslany playing multiple parts and if that wasn't the standard beforehand, anyone who makes a show with multiples would be silly not to do it that way. It does allow for a much more seamless edit.

Through the first half of the season it seemed fun and breezy but they got a real comfort level with where they wanted to go and the drama ratcheted up several notches really fast. I probably shouldn't root for Helena, but I want her to do okay.

And if they pull something like the end of episode 8 again, they're dead to me. D-E-D, Dead.

Oh...and I just got to the point in the finale that made me say out loud "What the fuck is wrong with Allison?" Just...wow

Brandon Morrison - Chief of Staff and Forum Attaché to the Grand Chancellor

You can't really go wrong Nuckster, so far so good I prefer S1 but S2 more than holds it's own, sometimes it's pace is so fast that it bites off more than it can chew but you don't really mind while you're watching. I think only one or two countries have it on Netflix and Amazon Instant has the rest as far as I know.

No spoilers Goob

Would they be dead to you in a good way? Is that possible?

It's impossible to dislike Allison, for a multitude of reasons, she is my favourite.

Helena is an odd fish, her relationship with Sarah is open to many interpretations but it's touchingly unique.

When Allison let the neighbor lady strangle in the garbage disposal I said "What the fuck is wrong with Allison?"

instead.

Yeah that was a pretty intense finale down the stretch. It certainly leaves a lot of room for things to go to hell in Season 2.

Oh and fucking Allison sucks. I love her for the change in tone she always brings to scenes, but each of the clones acts just inconsistently enough (like most humans) that leads to terrible life decisions. It's realistic to life, but it makes me dislike them as characters. I like Kira and Helena the most because they are just what they are, they believe what they know and they stay consistent to themselves

Brandon Morrison - Chief of Staff and Forum Attaché to the Grand Chancellor

I don't really think about it that way, her antics are wildly entertaining, in S2 you'll get to see how she deals with the decision that she made. I see her as a way of doing fun subplots that brilliantly parody tropes from annoying shows such as Desperate Housewives and others I'm not going to spoil for the sake of season 2. At the same time she can serve the main plot too. Do you feel the same way about Sarah and Cosima? Cosima is more an example of what you mentioned in terms of characters acting inconsistently like people do.

Each of the girls have their issues with the internal character consistencies that make it hard for me to stay connected to them, though they're obviously sympathetic overall.

SpoilerShow

Cosima is the most obvious one, where she lets science and her emotions get in the way of following the simple facts and assumptions in front of all three of the clones. She is definitely more fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants than someone as rigidly scientific as she comes off early on should be.

Allison's inconsistency comes from her self-destructive recklessness. Amongst the clones all she wants to do is be safe and protect her kids, yet when we're just peeking into her suburban life she has totally wrecked, is a straight addict, and has come mentally unglued to the point that she lets her neighbor strangle herself. Almost all of that is exacerbated by the clone situation, but even without the outside stimulus, she's a walking time bomb waiting to go off, and she would have gone off eventually. The motivations the dialogue provide and the actions dictate don't stay lined up, but through the first season she isn't specifically played that way. As you say, she's played as a comic and satirical foil.

Sarah is very nuanced, but what bugs me about her inconsistency is probably a strength of how her character is laid out. Because she's a con-man at heart, it's to her benefit to be flexible to situations and use what she knows and her environment(s) to her advantage. That fits for why she stays in the "Beth" persona longer than was probably reasonable, but things like her pushing the envelope with Beth's boyfriend/handler before she knew who he really is was extremely dangerous and risky, especially when she was still at the point of just wanting to take the $75,000 and run. She actively bungled the Helena situation a couple of times, and is probably the most contributing factor as to why Helena flipped out in the finale and got shot, and will probably never be an actual (valuable) ally for Sarah and the clones.

I should probably clarify that I don't actually really hate any of them, and I probably do like Allison more than Cosima (for some reason, she does rub me a bit condescending), and these things that bugged me are not huge plot holes or anything like that. I just prefer the across the board consistency of someone like Helena, or Art for that matter, because they don't change in the face of new evidence. They take the evidence, decipher it through their own prism, and then act upon it. Maybe it's because they simplified those characters, but they stay their course better than the more obviously complex characters. And I like it better that way, as a writer.

Brandon Morrison - Chief of Staff and Forum Attaché to the Grand Chancellor